A public multimedia system is a combination of networked public terminals, such as telephones and personal computers, with an apparatus to administer these public terminals and an apparatus for hosting application computer programs on this system. When deployed in public locations such as airport departure lounges, public thoroughfares, shopping malls, banks, movie theatres and retail stores the terminals may be referred to as kiosks, booths, internet kiosks, or networked multimedia kiosks.
These kiosks may be used to provide messaging services such as e-mail and fax, form-entry services for banks and governments, electronic commerce such as ticketing and virtual shopping malls, entertainment such as internet browsing, games and chat rooms, and public utilities such as pay telephony.
The information age places new demands on people to be “connected” to various networks, both public and private. People not connected to these networks because of travel, time constraints, or lack of financial resources, may be placed at an economic or social disadvantage. Public multimedia systems can reliably provide these vital connections to travellers and to those who do not otherwise possess the necessary equipment to access these information networks.
Various services can be provided to kiosk users. Some services, such as on-line maps or guidebooks, may be provided free-of-charge. Other services, known as loyalty programs, may be provided free-of-charge to identified customers of service providers. Other services, such as e-mail, may require the kiosk user to pay for use of the services. These pay-per-use services include not only e-mail, but also event ticketing, provision of proprietary information to the kiosk user, games, internet browsing and the printing of materials associated with these services.
Many kiosks are based on a personal computer which has its own processor, its own software and a connection to a network. A problem with this type of kiosk is that a kiosk user may be able to access certain software or operating system functions that service providers want to keep them from accessing by, for example, depressing certain keys, such as function-keys or by depressing certain key sequences or combinations, such as “ctrl-alt-del”.
If kiosk users press certain keys or key sequences they may be able to reprogram the kiosk, gain fraudulent access to pay-per-use services, and otherwise disrupt or vandalize the kiosk system. As such, it is desirable to provide security systems to prevent this type of activity by kiosk users.
At the same time, it is desirable that such security systems allow access to the kiosk's operating system and other programs by authorized users for purposes of maintenance and repair. It would be convenient if such authorized access could occur remotely, i.e. from a computer terminal located in a different place.
Security of a kiosk can also be enhanced if at certain times the screen can be blanked or blacked out. For example, when a kiosk is first starting to load its operating system software, it may be desirable to not let a kiosk user see what extensions, drivers and the like are being loaded.